During the past decade, the booming real estate market and waning federal subsidies resulted in the loss of over two million units of affordable housing, according to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation which announced on Tuesday that it was committing $25 million to the study of housing policy in the United States. “A greater national commitment to affordable housing requires a greater understanding of the impact of housing on the well-being of children, families, and communities,” MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton, speaking at New York University’s Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy, said today. “This new research will produce a deep, empirical evidence base to show how housing affects children’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development and how housing choices shape the economic, emotional, and physical well-being of adults.” According to a reader who attended the event, panel member and HPD Commish Shaun Donovan disclosed that a big focus of HPD over the next year or two is going to be addressing the need for “permanently affordable” housing that doesn’t trap families (by disincentivizing them to move) or disappear when initial owners turn around and sell.

Maybe MacArthur wants to devote a few bucks to an idea we’ve had lately: What if the government created a comprehensive housing voucher program that made subsidies linked to people and not properties? This would remove the incredible inefficiencies and disincentives of the current system, while providing a much more liquid subsidy program to the people who need it. Crazy?
MacArthur to Invest $25 Million in Housing Research [Newswire]
Affordable Housing [Macfound.org]
Photo of Boulevard Homes in East New York by gkjarvis